Better late than never: League Tokens return for Pro-Am West finals

Overwatch League is doing just fine, ya'll! Nevermind the rampant lawsuits, investors mad about the inclusion of Contenders teams, and said Contenders teams essentially being used as the esports version of The Brooklyn Brawler. But, one small thing: The viewership numbers for this start to the new season have not been...great. But have no fear, because League Tokens return to the OWL Pro-Am for Grand Finals this weekend.

Well, I guess it's better than not returning at all.

Blizzard announced the return of League Tokens today--A currency used in-game to purchase OWL team skins and previously earned by simply watching Overwatch League. It didn't go unnoticed that the earnable tokens were curiously missing from the Pro-Am with no explanation. What followed on opening day of the Pro-Am was an unceasing wave of "!Drops" being spammed in chat. Alas, the only solace given to fans were that token drops weren't enabled for the event.

Oh, and completely unrelated, I'm sure: OWL Pro-Am numbers have not been fantastic compared to last season.

As of this week, the OWL Pro-Am viewership numbers sit far below either last year's Kickoff Clash event and well below the 2022 Grand Finals tournament according to esports stream tracking service Esports Charts. Currently, the Pro-Am has seen a peak viewership of 36,719, an average viewership of 15,938, and a total hours watched at 731,782.

For comparison, we have the numbers of the 2022 Kickoff Clash from this time last year: 121, 227 peak viewers, an average of 50,201 viewers, and 7,329,325 hours watched. Keep in mind: The Kickoff Clash did have more days of play and included teams from both divisions.

You know what else the Clash had: League Tokens. Pro-Am now does as well.

Now... We're not trying to say that League Tokens are the reason folks show up for Overwatch League. Objectively, there is no way to prove this statement. However, anecdotally, not only has it been on the mind of chat literally every day of the Pro-Am, but it is a noticeable change. League Tokens are expensive--sitting at 100 tokens for $5.99 USD.

That used to mean one 100 token purchase netted you one OWL skin. However, the price on the Tokens changed recently and now cost 150 tokens per skin. Safe to say, there was a value before in watching OWL and getting tokens, OWL Pro-Am now included in that.

No word yet from Blizzard on how many tokens players will be able to earn this weekend. We suppose its better late than never, but one cannot help but see this as a way to shore up weak viewership of the Pro-Am.

Will this prove true and we'll see OWL Pro-Am viewership shoot up for Grand Finals? Let's wait and see.

Stay tuned to esports.gg for esports news and OWL info.